Just Some Updates

I am finally feeling mostly better. It got colder here and we turned on the heat and my head got all stuffy and I got a bit of a cough. It hasn't been good because I have felt drained but today I am feeling much better.

The Man has been working days now for about 3 weeks. WOOHOO! I can't tell you how happy this makes me. I love having him home at night. We haven't slept in bed at the same time much our whole marriage due to his work schedules. This has also been awesome for him because he hasn't been as tired and his body has been feeling better. I tried to convince him that nights was rough on a person but he didn't believe me. He is just hoping that he can convince the higher powers that this is a good change and that he can keep this schedule for a while.

I have weaned my last breast fed baby now. It is a sad and a happy time for me. It is sad that I will not ever have another tiny baby of my own but I am happy that life is progressing. It has also been nice because she is now sleeping through the night most nights. I love my sleep. Even though I have a rough time falling asleep, it is nice to be able to stay asleep after I do actually fall asleep.

T is doing wonderful in kindergarten. He likes being able to go and play and hang out with other kids his age. I think he is a bit of a busy body but the teacher hasn't complained as of yet.

S is doing good in school too. He started playing the clarinet last year and is taking intermediate band this year. I love listening to him play his music. I never learned to play any instruments so I think it s wonderful that he has picked it up and progressed so well. He is also doing awesome in math as usual. He struggles a bit in social studies but I cant complain too much as he still has pretty great grades.

K does so much better now that T is in school. Our only struggle with him at the moment is that he doesn't like waking up from bed or nap to have to get ready and walk to the school to drop off or pick up T. I think he gets this from me. He is much nicer and calmer since T started school too. I think maybe T's craziness affects the kids a bit too.

H is now 18 months and wow she is quite different than any of the boys. She is smart and loves to help me with my housework. The boys never quite wanted to help and still don't like when they have to help. She is picking up many words and has some great baby dance moves. She dances all the time when I put the music on while I do housework. She is growing like a weed. I think someone forgot to tell these kids that I wasn't ready for them to all grow up so fast.

I think The Man and I have figured out where we want to move. I think we are going to go to Washington. I lived there as a teen and went through junior high, high school, and beauty school there. It is a lot like here as far as the weather goes. I like the weather here. It isn't crazy high heats or lots of feet of snow. I will be near some of my friends that I have kept in touch with. My dad's side of the family is also there, except for him. It is also isn't much difference in driving time from Arizona to The Man's family so that will be nice too. I am going to go back early with the kids to get a job and get set up for when he is released from the military. We both wish he could just go the extra 4.5 years to retire but the odds are not in his favor for that.

I am having a lot of stress over life in general but things are pretty good too. I have to keep reminding myself of that.

Have a great day!

School and New Clothes

Wow, it has been a week already since I last posted. I would never make it as a paid blogger. Time just gets away from me way too often. In my defense, I have been busy trying to get ready for school to start for children.

This year we have two children going to school instead of just one. S started 7th grade Yesterday. I started thinking about it really hard yesterday and realized that it has been 20 years since I went to 7th grade. It has also been 20 years since I met one of my friends. I met Brandy the first day of 7th grade when she asked if she could sit by me. We hit it off and were hooked at the hip through all of junior high and high school. We have much different lives now but we still talk occasionally and love the opportunity to get together. I hope S will have the chance to meet someone and have them as a long term friend. It is hard to do when you are in a military family as people move all the time.

T is going to be starting kindergarten in a week. He is super excited. He has been begging to go to school like S for a few years now. We went to the school this past week to get a walk around tour and wow it looks like it will be really fun for him. They have a brand new playground to play on during recess. The classrooms have all kinds of learning tools. He is excited to get to learn to use a computer and play with dress up clothes. The gym has a rock climbing wall. I know my school didn't have all those cool things when I was starting kindergarten. I just hope that he will be able to sit still long enough to learn. We get to meet his teacher today. She is coming to our house to meet us and T. I have never heard of teachers coming to the homes before so it is odd to me.

Up til this year, with S, I have bought all his new school clothes before the start of the school year. Last year that bit me in the bum. I let him pick out the clothes and shoes he wanted before school started. My mom even bought him an expensive pair of design your own converse. He ended up not liking the clothes and shoes he picked out because they weren't in style. I felt terrible for my mom since she paid for those shoes and he ended up not wearing them much. This year I talked to him about clothes and shoes before school started and offered him the option to buy his new clothes either before or after school started. He was smart and decided that he would pick his new clothes after school started. This way he can look and see what might be in style and then go from there. I feel funny not buying him all his new clothes before school began but I am glad that he has decided to be a bit more resourceful and wait so that he doesn't have clothes or shoes that he wont end up wearing.

Did you always get a whole new wardrobe before school started? Am I weird for allowing him to wait and see what is in style? (The Man thinks I am :))

My Little Boys

My little boys are a bundle of energy from the moment they wake up in the morning til they finally pass out at night. I do not know where they get all their energy from and I am even more lost as to where to direct all that energy when it is cold, windy, or rainy outside. Being in the house seems to bring out their natural craziness even more. I am constantly trying to prevent them from jumping on my couch or their bed. They want to run in circles and spin til they drop on the ground. It is quite funny and exciting to watch but it makes me crazy. I of course have to protect Miss H because she is just a baby and cannot move fast enough if one of them were to fall, so somedays that feels like all I get accomplished. As I type this, I am chasing them off the furniture so that hopefully this furniture might last a few years. I love that they love to play and use their wild imaginations but I really wish there were times that they would just sit and play quietly. Oh well there are much worse things going on in the world. :)

Christmas Party Update

*sorry for the horrible phone pic

This is the outfit I wore last night. I felt great. I got this dress on clearance at the store for less than $10. I paid 1 pound for the red belt at a local thrift store as well. It was very cold out so I wore a black jacket that matched the dress perfectly that I also paid less than $10 for.

They had a buffet meal and I did fabulous about my food choices. I only ate salad, turkey, carrots, green beans, and had a tiny spoon of cranberry sauce, and a half of a roll. I passed over the stuffing and mashed potatoes. I will say as nice as it was to go out for a night with The Man, our home cooked food tastes much better.

The kids did fabulously. S managed to help the babysitters by holding H at the beginning and helping her to be comfortable with one of the ladies. We were able to stay at the party until almost 10 p.m. and they didn't have to call us because she did so well. The little boys were great too. We got compliments on our children's behavior. This makes me proud. I love compliments on my children when they are being good. It makes me feel like I am not completely failing as a parent.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to K, my sweet, cuddly, 3 year old. We took him out today to pick out his gift from his Nana since she was unable to get a gift in the mail to him in time. We let him walk around the store and look at all the toys and he stuck true to his love of trains and picked out another train. He is going to be super excited tomorrow when we have his party that he is getting more train things. We also got lunch and ice cream while we were out. He thought it was so cool that we let him have ice cream before his food but he still managed to finish his food off before his ice cream was gone. We don't usually let the kids have ice cream out and about, nor do we let them eat ice cream before eating something with a bit of nutrition but it is a special thing that my mom did with me as a teen for special occasions so I have decided to carry it on with my kids. I hope that the little things like this will make many happy memories for them.

School

The new school year starts tomorrow. S is going to be going to middle school this year. It is going to be a big change for him. He is going from one teacher to 7 different teachers.  He is going to have to ride a bus this year because the school is further away from home. I just can't believe the time has passed so fast. I am looking forward to being back on a schedule but I do not like having to wake up so early every day.

Welcome Little Miss H!!!!

Me at the hospital 3/8

On March 8th, we welcomed into this world a beautiful little girl. Little Miss H is the only female child and most likely our last child. The big boys all adore her and have taken every chance they get at holding, hugging, or kissing her sweet forehead.

I had prayed through this pregnancy, as I did with my last two, that if I were supposed to have a vaginal delivery that I would go into labor prior to the scheduled c section date. I never did, although I had tons of contractions. The contractions never dilated my cervix. Once again I was up way too early showering and getting ready to head off for a trip to the hospital. I was nervous and sick to my stomach while getting ready. I had a bunch of "what ifs" running through my head. Even though I had not eaten or drank anything since midnight I got sick to my stomach before leaving the house. This delivery made me more nervous than the boys' deliveries as all 3 of them were born at the same civilian hospital. This time I delivered at a military hospital and some of the care had been lacking at times.

The Man and I arrived at the hospital at 6am for their preparations. They put the monitors on the baby and she sounded amazing. They asked if I knew what I was having to which my reply was "they said it was supposed to be a girl this time". I was a little hesitant to believe the ultrasound tech because we already had 3 boys and I just didn't believe that we were capable of creating a girl. They came in and started an IV and explained all the anesthesia procedures. The lady doing the IV couldn't get a good IV easily and it hurt. I had asked them to redo it but they wouldn't. I ended up with quite a bruise thanks to her.

At about 7am they had me and The Man walk back to the surgery room. They made The Man wait outside while I was situated on a surgery table and they got my spinal/epidural in place. They gave me the first dose of medicine via a spinal because it is supposedly the better way but they also placed an epidural with no medicine just in case they were to need more time for the surgery "since this was my 4th c section". Once they laid me on my back and started cleaning my stomach and draping the blue sheets around they allowed The Man to come in and sit by my head. They then ran a prickly thing over my stomach to see if I was numb and I guess it was good enough because I couldn't feel it til they got close to my chest. Since I was numb enough they started cutting. This took forever it seemed and made me very worried. The doctors and nurses were quiet and so I started to panic. I asked what was wrong to The Man and of course he couldn't tell either. The anesthesiologist said that I had a bunch of scar tissue that they had to get through. I just laid there behind the blue curtain in suspense of that beautiful little cry. I started to get upset because I was worried something was wrong with my baby since it took so long to get her out. Finally I heard a suction and the most beautiful little cry. I immediately started crying. They had lowered the blue sheet a little so The Man could see her. I asked him if she was bald and he said no that she had hair. I asked if it was really a girl and he smiled really proud and said yes. They held her up over the blue sheet for jsut a second so I could see her before they moved her to the warming table.

They moved her over to the warming table where they wiped her off and let The Man cut her cord shorter. I could hear her crying a lot and it made me sad that I couldn't just get up and help her. They wrapped her up in a blanket and put a hat on her then I got to see her again and give her a kiss before they took her out of the surgery room. I had him go with her when they took her out of the room and I was there for quite some time while they stitched me back up. I couldn't wait to get to see her. When they were done they wheeled me back to my room where I was greeted by The Man and this tiny baby. She was 7lbs 10oz which was not my smallest or my biggest.

We started nursing immediately and she nurses like a champ. I managed to be up and moving the first day which I was told was not normal. I just wanted my baby and to go home. The second day I was in a bit more pain but I still would have rather been at home where I was comfortable. They made me stay 48 hours and then we got to come home. She so far has been easier than K as she tends to sleep about 3 hours at a time at night where he was up every 2 for over a year. She really only cries when she is hungry or has gas in her tummy.

Happy 2nd Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday K!! Today is my sweet little guy, K's, birthday. I can't believe how fast time goes when you have kids. I love this little guy he is sweet and cuddly and most definately a mama's boy. He still is very needy of my time, attention, and affection but that is part of what makes him special. He makes me smile every day watching him learn new things. Tonight we will celebrate with some cake and his few presents from us and his grandparents after dinner. Maybe this weekend if the weather will cooperate we can go to a park or something fun. Happy Birthday K!!!!

My One August Post

Oops. I guess I have been too busy and tired to update my blog so I figured I should at least get one post in. Now that I am 12 weeks along will share the good news that we are expecting baby#4. Baby#4 is due March 14, 2011. I am still extremely tired all the time and have the worst case of morning sickness of all my pregnancies. I thought that the morning sickness should have calmed by now but I think it is getting worse the further along I get.

Once I get The Man to take the pics off his camera I will share our fun vacation with my parents with you. My parents were here for 12 days the begining of this month and we saw a bunch. We went to 3 amusement parks, Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and 2 SeaLife aquariums. It was very busy but it was a great experience for all of us.

Where Has The Time Gone??

S turned 10 on July 19th. Wow!! Where has the time gone? It surely doesn't seem like it has been 10 years since I was 20 and having my first baby boy. That time in my life was definitely not a great time for me to be having a baby, but I did it. I chose to continue on and have him and what a great choice that was. I grew up pretty quickly once I had him because I knew I had to give him a place to live and clothes and food. I ended up having a c-section with him because they induced me due to "low fluids". I tried hard to breast feed him but I failed miserably. I managed to "nurse" him for 3 days and then continued to pump for a month til my milk production was almost nonexistent.

I lived with my parents for almost the first year of his life. That was very hard because even though I was his Mom I still had my Mom trying to dictate my life. I was so relieved when I moved out on my own. We had a rough couple of years financially, but we made it. He always had a roof over his head, clothes on his body, food in his tummy, and most of all he was loved. I married The Man when S was 5 and our lives have improved and become more comfortable. I am able to be a stay at home mom now and am always here when he or his brothers need me.

S just finished 4th grade and he made the A-B Honor roll all 4 quarters. He also excelled in math. He started the year in 4th grade level math and the last week of school tested to a 7th grade level math. He LOVES math and would do no other work ever again if he could just do math. Just like me while I was in school. ;)

This past year he started playing soccer. He is really doing well at it since this is his first year in sports. He loves it and I think it is good for him to run like that all the time. The sign-ups for soccer should be starting again soon. I think it would be nice to try to get him involved with a local British team but they have games on Saturdays almost all year round. We are trying to walk the fine line of sports and traveling England while we are here. He is still young and has plenty of time to practice soccer when we are stateside again.

Wow!! Happy birthday S!!! I hope you have a great 10th year.

So Proud!!!

Since my oldest moved into 4th grade they have been giving out A-F grades at school. I got to go to the honor roll assembly at the school today. My oldest was on the A/B honor roll for the second time this school year. I am extremely proud of his accomplishments and hard work. I being the proud mommy that I am tried to take pictures of him but the way the children were situated on the podium there was a girl in front of him that was much taller than my son and I was only able to capture the top of his head. I will take pictures tonight to send to the grandparents so they can relish in the moment too. Great Job S!!!!!